Few names evoke the experimental spirit of early ’90s UK Dance music quite like The Sabres of Paradise. Formed around London’s warehouse rave scene in 1992 by the late Guv'nor Andrew Weatherall with engineers Jagz Kooner and Gary Burns, the trio quickly became a seminal act on Warp Records. They were prolific remixers, collaborating with Björk, New Order, Leftfield, and The Chemical Brothers, before concentrating on their own sound. Their debut LP 'Sabresonic' (1993), and follow-up, 'Haunted Dancehall' (1994), remain touchstones of a blended sound of hypnotic club beats, cinematic textures, and dub-inflected production, transformed into a style the band dubbed “metallic.”
'Sabresonic' became an instant classic, featuring the blissfully balearic 'Smokebelch I' and the chill-out 'Smokebelch II - Beatless Mix.' The album balanced ambient epics like 'Clock Factory' with driving techno tracks such as 'Still Fighting' and 'Inter-Legen-Ten-ko,' reflecting both contemporary trends and deeper influences from dub, industrial, and Chicago house. Critics and fans hailed the album as an exemplar of Warp’s forward-thinking ethos, and NME ranked it among the top albums of 1993. The album peaked at no.29 in October 1993 in UK Album Charts.
'Haunted Dancehall' followed in 1994, ambitiously strange and avant-garde, with its combination of jittery rhythms, insidious melodies, and cinematic touches hailed as "Techno’s first concept album" by The Guardian. Featuring additional production from Portishead and Mr Scruff, the record incorporated live instrumentation, samples, and film-score influences. Tracks like 'Wilmot' and 'Tow Truck' showcased the band’s evolving sound, in times when the their tour adverts contained small print specifying a policy of “no jugglers, no fire eaters, no flutes and no hippies with lawyers”.
Their explosion across stages in the UK, Europe and Japan was short-lived yet iconic, before the group dissolved. Their five-piece live lineup of Jagz Kooner, Gary Burns, Richard Thair (also founding member of Red Snapper) , Nick Abnett (all four of whom also had ties to The Aloof) and Phil Mossman (LCD Soundsystem) translated the metallic, dub-inflected studio sound into something visceral and defiantly live. And Andrew Weatherall was there djing before and after each set. In 1995 the Sabres did their final show taking place at Tokyo’s Liquid Room and it seemed to be the very last page of their short but golden history.
And then all of a sudden, in 2025 - meaning thirty years later - the Sabres have returned! Kooner and Burns have reassembled the classic live outfit, performing the historical first Sabres show in three decades at London’s Fabric in May 2025, followed swiftly by appearances at the Sydney Opera House, Primavera Sound in Barcelona, Dekmantel in Amsterdam and a mini UK tour around November. Weatherall’s spirit animates the revival, while all of the fans embraced this return on buzzin and crowded venues.
"How we got back together really stems from Ian Weatherall, Andrew’s brother, suggesting getting the albums re-released, to mark the anniversary. This was in 2023. I was like, ‘Oh, bloody hell, has it been 20 years already?’ And he said, ‘No, it’s been 30.’ So it was like, ‘oh fk, right!" - Jagz Kooner [Source: Interview at 909 Originals]
What's fascinating is that their reunion is accompanied with Warp's remastered reissues of both 'Sabresonic' and 'Haunted Dancehall' on Vinyl and CD. Meticulously remastered by Grammy winning engineer Matt Colton with the full collaboration of surviving members and Weatherall’s estate the releases came out this summertime and both vinyl versions include an extra track appearing on this format for the first time. For longtime fans, this is a chance to experience the albums in their full glory, while new listeners can get introduced to some of the most forward-thinking electronic music of the 1990s.
Recently, The Sabres removed their back catalogue from Spotify for “undervaluing artists, underserving listeners and financial ties to AI-driven weapon technologies” following Massive Attack and many others. The message is strong enough and their return is even stronger. It blends nostalgia and innocence, warehouse rave energy with avant-garde experimentation. It's dub. It's metallic. It's...sabresonic!
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